FEED IN TARIFF EXPLAINED
Clean Energy Cashback (also known as Feed In Tariffs), introduced on 1st April 2010, provide financial incentives for people and businesses to install electricity-generating technologies such as solar PV panels and wind turbines. It will do this by guaranteeing a minimum payment for the electricity generated as well as the electricity exported to the national grid.
THERE ARE 3 WAYS OF BENEFITTING FROM THE FEED IN TARIFF
Generation Tariff
For every kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity your system produces, you will receive a set amount as per your feed-in tariff rate. You can consume this renewable energy yourself which means you don’t have to buy it from your supplier, so in effect, this renewable energy is free of charge and you get paid for generating it.
Export Tariff
If you do not use your renewable energy, it is automatically exported back to the national grid. For every kWh you export you receive a set amount as per your feed-in tariff rate. At this moment in time, we cannot measure how much you export (unless you have a smart meter) so the government rule is that it will be assumed you will export 50% of what your system produces. This will be paid to you as an export tariff rate (you may have consumed all of your free renewable energy and exported nothing, but as this cannot be measured you will still be paid for your 50% export)
Energy Used
The more free energy you use the less you will have to take from the grid. A change to your habits can benefit your returns greatly, where feasible, use your appliances during the day and particularly when generation is high during the day (sun is bright, and shining directly on the panels and no cloud cover is ideal). The electricity generated by and used from the system is FREE, while any electricity bought from the grid is charged at the going rate from the utility company. So the idea is simple – ‘Daytime is Win time’
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST AND HOW MUCH MONEY CAN I MAKE?
This is dependent on the size and suitability of your roof and how much you wish to invest. Systems vary in size and costs range from around £5000 to £20,000.
£ 20000
£ 5000
